Growth During Tocilizumab Therapy for Polyarticular-course Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: 2-year Data from a Phase III Clinical Trial.

Objective: Evaluate growth in patients with polyarticular-course juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pcJIA) treated with tocilizumab (TCZ) for up to 2 years in a phase III trial.

Methods: Patients with pcJIA lasting at least 6 months and inadequate response to methotrexate received open-label TCZ intravenously every 4 weeks (randomly assigned to 8 or 10 mg/kg if they weighed < 30 kg; received 8 mg/kg if they weighed ≥ 30 kg) for 16 weeks. Patients with JIA American College of Rheumatology 30 response at Week 16 were randomly assigned to TCZ or placebo for 24 weeks, with an open-label extension through Week 104.

Catch-up growth during tocilizumab therapy for systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis: results from a phase III trial.

Objective: To investigate the impact of tocilizumab treatment on growth and growth-related laboratory parameters in patients with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) enrolled in a phase III clinical trial.

Methods: Patients with systemic JIA ages 2-17 years (n = 112) received tocilizumab in a 12-week, randomized, placebo-controlled period and a long-term open-label extension. Height velocity and standard deviation (SD) score; levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), osteocalcin (OC), and C-telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-I); and Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score in 71 joints (JADAS-71) were measured in a post hoc analysis of 83 patients who never received growth hormone and did not reach Tanner stage 5 by the end of the first year of treatment.

Age of thelarche and menarche in contemporary US females: a cross-sectional analysis.

Aim: A recent secular trend towards earlier thelarche has been suggested. The aim of this study is to examine normative ages of thelarche and menarche in contemporary US females.

Methods: Trained physicians documented Tanner breast stage by observation in a cross-sectional cohort.

Adult and near-adult height in patients with severe insulin-like growth factor-I deficiency after long-term therapy with recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-I.

Background: Treatment with recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) stimulates linear growth in children with severe IGF-I deficiency (IGFD).

Aims: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of treatment with IGF-I in patients with severe IGFD treated until adult or near-adult height.

Methods: Twenty-one children with severe IGFD were treated until adult or near-adult height under a predominantly open-label design.

Characteristics of children with the best and poorest first- and second-year growth during rhGH therapy: data from 25 years of the Genentech national cooperative growth study (NCGS).

Background: Models assessing characteristics contributing to response to recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) response rarely address growth extremes in both years 1 and 2 or examine how children track from year to year. Using National Cooperative Growth Study (NCGS) data, we determined characteristics contributing to responsiveness to rhGH and the pattern of change from years 1 to 2.

Patients And Methods: Height velocity standard deviation score (HV SDS) for 2 years for prepubertal children with idiopathic GH deficiency (IGHD) (n = 1899) and idiopathic short stature (ISS) (n = 1186) treated with similar doses for two years were computed.